QINGDAO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of soldiers and volunteers in east
China's coastal city of Qingdao, host of the Olympic sailing events, are still
battling a major algae bloom on Friday.
More than 1,200 vessels were at sea cleaning the foul-smelling algae, and
inflatable barriers were placed near the coastline to prevent the algae from
encroaching on the shore.
According to an emergency headquarters set up to clean the algae, its
coverage in the sailing competition areas, which span more than 50 square
kilometers, had shrunk from 32 percent five days ago to less than 10 percent.
More than 110,000 soldiers and volunteers have been engaged in frantic
efforts to cleaning the weeds, which was first spotted at the end of May and
started to bloom in mid-June.
A municipal government figure published on Wednesday showed the algae had
been nearly halved since late June and covered 48.8 square kilometers of water
by Wednesday.
On Friday, sporadic remains of algae floated on the water off the Olympic
sailing base. Dozens of boats were at sea gathering the algae. An aerial survey
was delayed as rain and fog grounded helicopters.
At beaches near the base, soldiers were bagging piles of green algae which
were dragged out of the water.
"It's far better now than a few days before, and the water is clearer. Last
week, the air was rancid because of the algae, and we all shut our windows,"
said Zhang Xiaolei, whose office is near the coast at the May 4th Square.
By Thursday, about 285,000 tons of the algae have been removed from the
water and seashore. Officials planned to wipe out the algae, called enteromorpha
prolifera, before July 15.
Experts from the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) are working to
determine the source and cause of the algae outbreak.
The algae also covered parts of a training area, where sailors from more
than 30 countries are training, and sometimes blocked sailing routes and
affected preparations for the sailing teams for the Games.
The sailing competitions are scheduled from Aug. 9 to 23.
